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Chicks on Anime [2008-09-23]

I quite agree... but talking to yanks about the virtues of socialism is like trying to tell a nun about sex. No enthusiasm, no understanding, no point.

some who are so socially paralyzed that all they can do is set their manga down on the counter, give you their card, sign and leave IMMEDIATELY with not a word spoken nor presence acknowledged.

I have an announcement to Robin, Bamboo, Sara and Casey:

SORRY!

I never meant this thread to be derailed due to talk of Denmark.

SORRY!

It was initially meant as only a passing remark.

HONEST!

I cringed when I saw the discussion twisting towards the inane and sliding towards banality.

SORRY!

I am aware at how the "debate" over which is the Netherlands true capital has detracted from actually talking about this week's column.

SORRY!

I am also aware how this post isn't exactly returning the discussion back onto topic.

APOLOGIES!

*Gets down on knees, and prays*

FORGIVE ME!




Sorry for all that, but I felt I was partially to blame for all those posts on Denmark, and the subsequent ones on pharmaceutical companies, capitals of countries, what country is which, the virtues of being Canadian, how socialism rules, and the like.

Please people, back on topic. If there even is one*.



*
I joke, I joke.

burzmali wrote:

Moomintroll wrote: Oh, good Lord. Six of the ten biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world are European and the USA certainly doesn't pay a cent towards European public healthcare. Read a book. You might want to start with an atlas. How many of those are based in countries the size of Denmark or smaller?

Oh gee, I dunno... how about this one? They're the 24th largest pharmaceutical company in the world.

They happen to be the major supplier of insulin to the US market, surpassing even US-based companies. You were saying something about us Europeans being the beneficiaries of American pharmaceuticals?

Or this one, which is no. 50?

As for the rest of your twaddle, burzmali, why don't you stop trying to worm your way out of the fact that you've made a fool of yourself several times over in this thread, already? It really isn't a pretty sight to see someone squirm like that.

abunai wrote:

As for the rest of your twaddle, burzmali, why don't you stop trying to worm your way out of the fact that you've made a fool of yourself several times over in this thread, already? It really isn't a pretty sight to see someone squirm like that.

Dude, I got pwned!

Dude, I got pwned!

For better or for worst all of "those" countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) tend to tend to be blended into homogeneous mush over on this side of the Atlantic.

Sadly, I find that to be true. I'm from Canada. I tell people my mom is from Finland, and that I'm working on declaring my Finn citizenship, and people almost always ask me where it is, or mix it up with Sweden. From my experience, most people on this side of the Atlantic don't know much about the rest of the world. Probably cause we don't travel as much, and we are quite far away, really. This mixed with crappy education systems does not bode well.

posterior_praiser wrote:

Sadly, I find that to be true. I'm from Canada. I tell people my mom is from Finland, and that I'm working on declaring my Finn citizenship, and people almost always ask me where it is, or mix it up with Sweden. From my experience, most people on this side of the Atlantic don't know much about the rest of the world. Probably cause we don't travel as much, and we are quite far away, really. This mixed with crappy education systems does not bode well.

Do you think the average Finn would know by heart the provinces of Canada? Or major cultural differences between Montana and Missouri? Pinning Puerto Rico on a map? There's no particular scandal/mystery in people having a better general understanding of their close neighbors than more distant countries. In the case of Europe, you also have to factor in the extensive intertwined histories of many countries as well, that's not something that's really shared by NA in relative fashion.

I think dating and relationships in Japan are very different from dating and relationships in Western countries.

I don't know if it's isolation or selfishness, or both, but people seem like they are not willing to put up with the difficulties of a real relationship, or to try to start a real relationship. So it's all about this escapism and fantasy of “I just want a pretty girl to sleep with,” or “I just want a pretty guy to listen to my problems and care about me.” But it's like no one is willing to meet each other half way for real, at least from an outsider's perspective. It seems like it could be a big thing and a problem, because aren't they having problems with dropping birth and marriage rates in Japan right now?

If you look at countries' birthrates, the post-industrialized nations that are having the biggest problems with birthrates are the most patriarchal countries. Because what happened, essentially, is that there is this breakdown in expectations, that the women expect a more equitable relationship, while the men expects someone to wait on them hand and foot, and because neither is being satisfied, they just don't get together at all. And both are wildly unhappy.

One of the things I've noticed, and it's this way in Japan as well, is that even after they get married, the husband and wife lead very separate lives. They don't do necessarily things together that we would expect a family to do in the United States. And the woman is really responsible for the kids.

I've heard from people who have been there and tried to be a member of the Japanese workforce, of expectations of how much work you have to do to prove you are a good worker. Totally different from what they are in America. Like the later you stayed and worked, the better you were, no matter how much work you get done during the work day. Just to see you work extra hours and stay longer than anybody else. And I think because of that, you are seeing men staying in the office all hours of the night with really limited contact with their wives and their families.

There has always been this stereotype of this dude who sits in his mom's basement watching a video of Kanaka-chan playing at the beach with her friends or whatever, but you know in the US, I haven't found that to be really that true. It could just be the subset of people I've encountered. I find that at least in the anime community, people are, for the most part, very well socially adjusted.

Sorry for all that, but I felt I was partially to blame for all those posts on Denmark, and the subsequent ones on pharmaceutical companies, capitals of countries, what country is which, the virtues of being Canadian, how socialism rules, and the like.

abunai wrote:

I quite agree... but talking to yanks about the virtues of socialism is like trying to tell a nun about sex. No enthusiasm, no understanding, no point.

No kidding. Now, try to imagine how frustrating it is to be one yank trying to explain this to another, when the most common response is an immediate suspicion of character and patriotism. Sigh...